Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2663 actions· ✨ 89 recent

The European Commission approved a €4.1 billion Hungarian state aid scheme (SA.120705) under Section 6.1 of the Clean Industrial Deal State Aid Framework (CISAF), authorising grants and tax advantages for strategic investments that add cleantech-manufacturing capacity across Hungary through 31 December 2030. Eligible activities cover net-zero technologies listed in Annex II of the CISAF — batteries, solar PV, wind turbines, electrolysers, heat pumps, and CCUS equipment — plus their main specific components and the production or recovery of related critical raw materials. The scheme is open to companies across the whole territory of Hungary and is the CISAF-era successor to Hungary's EUR 2.36 billion TCTF net-zero scheme (approved 2023-08-30, aid deadline 31 December 2025), which channelled the bulk of Chinese and Korean battery/EV-supply-chain FDI into the Debrecen–Szeged–Göd–Nyíregyháza industrial cluster.

The European Commission approved an Italian State aid scheme worth EUR 1.5 billion (USD ~1.74 billion) under the Clean Industrial Deal State Aid Framework (CISAF), authorising direct grants, preferential loans, or a combination of both for strategic investments that add new cleantech manufacturing capacity. Eligible technologies span solar photovoltaic (including polysilicon, ingots, wafers, cells, solar glass, modules, inverters, tracking systems and mounting structures), onshore and offshore wind, heat pumps, geothermal, energy storage and batteries, hydrogen, and biomethane/biogas component manufacturing. The scheme is open to companies throughout Italy, is co-financed by the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), and runs until 31 December 2030.

The European Commission approved on 6 November 2025 a EUR 700 million Spanish State aid scheme (SA.119884) under the Clean Industrial Deal State Aid Framework (CISAF Section 6.1), to support the build-out of new manufacturing capacity for net-zero technologies listed in CISAF Annex II. The scheme funds direct grants, open Spain-wide and available until 31 December 2028, for investments producing batteries, solar panels, wind turbines, heat pumps, electrolysers, carbon capture/storage/utilisation equipment, and the critical raw materials used to make these components. It is a distinct, larger sister scheme to Spain's EUR 408 million SA.119880 CISAF Section 5 scheme (approved five weeks later), which instead funds decarbonisation of existing industrial processes rather than new clean-tech production capacity.

Italy's state investment agency Invitalia approved a "Contratto di Sviluppo" (Development Contract) worth EUR 103.7 million in total investment for Italian Green Factory SpA (Tea Tek group), of which EUR 67 million is Invitalia state aid (financial grant plus state loan) on eligible costs, with a further EUR 29 million routed through the Fondo di Garanzia PMI (SME Guarantee Fund). The package reindustrialises the former Whirlpool site in Naples and a second plant in Pomigliano d'Arco for photovoltaic (solar) component production, plus two smaller R&D projects (predictive diagnostics for electrical transformers/panels; walkable solar installations for road infrastructure). The plan commits to retaining 294 previously-displaced Whirlpool workers and adding 55 new hires (349 total).

The European Investment Bank signed a EUR 221.5 million green loan with Albasolar Srl (a project vehicle of promoter GreenIT SpA) on 5 August 2025 to finance the "ALBA SOLAR PV GREEN LOAN" project: development, construction and operation of a portfolio of roughly 14 solar PV plants across Italy totalling 383 MWp, with individual plant capacities ranging 5-80 MWp. The loan was disbursed as three tranches signed the same day (EUR 7.75m, EUR 42.75m and EUR 171.0m), against an EIB-estimated total project cost of approximately EUR 400 million and proposed EIB financing of up to EUR 250 million.

Türkiye's Ministry of Trade published İthalatta Gözetim Uygulanmasına İlişkin Tebliğ (No: 2023/2)'de Değişiklik Yapılmasına Dair Tebliğ in Resmî Gazete on 17 July 2025, doubling the unit customs (CIF) reference value that triggers the country's import-surveillance mechanism for photovoltaic cells not assembled into modules or panels (GTİP 8541.42.00.00.00), from USD 85/kg to USD 170/kg. Imports declared at or below the new threshold require a "gözetim belgesi" (supervision certificate) from the Imports General Directorate before customs clearance. The amendment entered into force sixty days after publication, on 15 September 2025. Global Trade Alert logs the intervention as "certainly harmful" and names China and Cambodia as the principal exporters affected. The measure does not block imports outright but raises the price floor below which a licensing/documentation step is triggered, functioning as a de facto minimum-price barrier against underpriced photovoltaic-cell imports — part of a broader push to protect Türkiye's domestic solar-manufacturing base as it scales toward the National Energy Plan's 52.9 GW installed-solar target.

China's Ministry of Commerce issued Announcement 2025 No. 3 on 9 January 2025, the Final Determination of its Trade and Investment Barrier (TIB) investigation into the European Commission's enforcement practices under the EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR). MOFCOM concluded that EC practices in FSR investigations targeting Chinese enterprises in rail transport, photovoltaics, wind energy, and security-equipment public procurement constitute trade and investment barriers under Article 3 of China's Rules on Trade and Investment Barrier Investigations (对外贸易壁垒调查规则). The determination documents €20.88 billion in estimated economic losses — including €10.18 billion from abandoned bids — and finds de-facto discrimination against Chinese SOEs relative to investors from other jurisdictions. MOFCOM committed to taking "necessary measures" including bilateral consultations, multilateral dispute settlement, or "other appropriate measures" to safeguard Chinese enterprises' legitimate rights and interests.